Last year, Babbo. This year, Butter. Am I speaking gibberish? Not quite. Each year, my honey, Hagan, and I forgo anniversary presents in exchange for an extra luscious celebration dinner. Last year, for our three year anniversary, we indulged ourselves at Mario Batali’s restaurant, Babbo, off of Washington Square Park. Although that experience warrants a post dedicated to itself, I’ll skip right to the current year and give you the dish about Alex Guarnaschelli’s restaurant, Butter!

Alex describes food the way most discuss art. Before Chef Guarnaschelli snagged her own Food Network show, The Cooking Loft, I loved hearing her skillfully shaped notes as a judge on Iron Chef America. (And I definitely look forward to hearing her commentary on FN’s new show, Chopped, this January!) So it was a total no brainer what restaurant got my vote for our special dinner.

At the New York Wine & Food Festival, I ran into Alex where my director then spilled I was thinking about Butter for my anniversary dinner. Without missing a beat, she said, “How dare you not email me. Stop being ridiculous. Email me and let me book your reservation.” I waited a week to hide a bit of my anxiousness. But when I finally did email her, Alex quickly shot back, sending well wishes and confirming the dinner reservation she made personally for us.

Alas, I did not plan for the mood lighting (aka too dark to take pictures without flash), so apologies for the “mood lit” camera phone photos!

The top bite of the night? Hagan swore that the scallops were the best he’s ever had, but for me…and this may sound a bit ridiculous…but my favorite component in the whole meal was the simple, yellow tomato sauce. Sounds boring, right? Well I’ve heard before that you can judge a good chef by their soup, but there must be some truth to judging a chef by their tomato sauce. Now I’m not sure if this is the same recipe that Chef Guarnaschelli uses at Butter (I’ll try to do some investigating), but I did find this Yellow Tomato Sauce recipe of hers from The Cooking Loft — has anyone tried it?

You are a girl after my own heart! Every year my husband and I say goodbye to candy, flowers, and gifts but we say hello to a magnificent dinner together. Its been our tradition for the past 8 years and I couldn’t imagine spending our anniversary any other way. This year we are off to Mesa Grill and I’m on a full fledged countdown! I’m thrilled to hear your dinner at Butter was fabulous…How exciting to have Alex Guarnaschelli herself make your reservations, I probably would have passed out if it were me! Even though the photo of Butter is dark it almost sets a romantic mood for the evening and the tree is incredibly festive! I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m jealous…With only 361 days to go where will you spend your 4th anniversary…Time to get serious and don’t forget to “dish”!

No celebrity chefs have restaurants near where I live. But I did travel to CA to visit family for thanksgiving. We went to Johnny Garlic’s for lunch and had a very nice meal, super friendly service. I had a french dip sandwich (nothing stellar, but it was tasty enough). The winner at the table was the Lava Shrimp Saute. They declined giving me the recipe, but I think I might give it a whirl on my own, and see if I can’t develop something close to it. :-)

I’ve eaten at Mesa Grill and at the Lady and Sons. Both were delicious. Bobby’s restaurant is what I expected, great quality, imaginative ingredients, and delicious! Paula’s was also as I expected, yummy and filling! I could definitely tell I was eating her recipes with how quickly I was full! I would suggest both.

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